21 research outputs found
Management education and the theatre of the absurd
In this paper we adopt a humanities perspective to reflect on the nature of business schools and management education (Vargish, 1991; March & Weil, 2005; Adler, 2006; McAuley & Sims, 2009). Business schools have been criticised for becoming the âhired handsâ of business (Khurana, 2007) to the detriment of a higher purpose, institutions that champion a utilitarian morality, the shallowness and indeed the dangers of which are revealed in various business scandals and especially the financial crisis of 2007-8, the effects of which cast a long shadow over todayâs economic and social landscape. This has led to the criticism that business schools have lost part of their essential âphilosophic connectionâ to issues of humanity and human identities (Augier & March, 2011: 233-4). We argue that one way to encourage philosophical reconnection is to expand management educationâs engagement with the humanities (Czarniawska & Gagliardi, 2006)